Tuesday, 21 October 2014

The Spartan has finally received some paint, and with some colour on it the tank really comes together: no longer being a collection of parts, but a single uniform battle machine.

So far only the main colour is close to completion. I still have to work on the metallic and freehand.
My original plan was to use the salt weathering technique to add a heavily chipped look to the tank. However, for one reason or another, the water used to affix the salt never dried; in fact it was absorbing water in the atmosphere.

Weathering attempt number two went much better. I ditched the water and salt, and went with a can of my girlfriend’s hairspray. A few layers of this, paint, and water to aid in removing the blue, left a very effective, and far easier, effect. This technique provided realistic looking scratches, with a slight 3D bonus effect. The whole deal was sealed with matte varnish to prevent additional paint chipping away. All that’s left is to highlight the chips to make them pop.

Here you can see the effect in full. I applied a lot of scratches to the front: this is the rammy end after all!

Once the blue and chipping was completed and sealed, I moved on to the details and freehand. All the colours will be done before I move onto the next stage: oil weathering. The icons will be painted in whites and yellows, befitting the Thousand Sons colour pallet.

The gunner and missile have been painted separately, and are closer to completion. Here is the gunner, with near-complete metallics and blue. All that is left is the freehand work and detailing.

I’m also 95% done with the hunter killer missile, which has been converted to suggest it is host to a daemonic entity. I painted it like a conventional missile, but with chaotic influence, in the form of blue veiny flesh patches and a baleful yellow eye.

I plan to have this tank completed by the end of the month, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Better get back to work then…

Thursday, 16 October 2014

Evil Craft is back trading after a short summer break, so now is a good time to share another review of their amazing range. Today, I’ll be opening up one of their squad sets: the close combat set.

With this kit there are several parts I have reviewed before. To save repeating myself, I will be focusing only on the parts I have not seen before, and the kit as a whole. Here are links to previous reviews of these parts:

This set retails at £31.46, for five models with scenic bases. This is a lot of money for one squad, if you’re planning to make the full unit. It is about the equivalent of a ‘premium’ Forge World squad such as Heresy-era Assault Marines or Boarding Marines. Having said that, you do get superior quality to Forge World, and if you want to mix and match with other kits and ranges, it starts to look like a better value set. The packaging is very much like other Evil Craft items, only bigger. Whilst well-printed and put together, I think such a set is deserving of a box with some nice artwork on it.

With this set you get a new set of legs. They are very much like the legs I have seen in the past, but in new running poses. I quite like these, as they allow for more fluid models. Another feature I like is that each set is a unique set. Normally you only get a choice of three from Evil Craft, but this added variety is welcomed.

Pistols are the first weapons to be viewed from this pack. Like the Carbines I reviewed a while back, they are crammed with amazing detail.

They are also a bit bigger than most other ranges, as seen above. Be careful using them on older, smaller models, or non-marine models like Guardsmen.

Alongside the pistols there are five chainswords, a mix of three different varieties. These are beautiful sculpts, and have more of a sabre-styled shape to them than other, more industrial variants. This elegance makes them possible weapons for lords as unique daemon-crafted weapons.

This variant, with its skull hand guard, is my favourite of the three.

To go with the weapons are pairs of arms suited for a close-combat set-up. Like all other parts of the armour, they are well detailed. The hands are on ball-joints, to allow for more involved posing. Is it a lot of extra work to pose a model? Sure, but it makes posing infinitely customisable, and saves you accidentally ruining hands and arms when cutting.

You get five heads with this set: the set in question is the bare head set. Each of these is a really nice head: they’re chaotic, but don’t have ridiculously over-sized horns or masses of cancerous tissue. They are refined and very dark.

My favourite is the half-masked model. It has a certain evil to it (befitting the company name), reminding me of the likes of Bane (Dark Knight Rises) with a hint of “the dark side of the force”. I foresee a use for this head in the near future.

This squad even comes with its own bases. They are slightly scenic, with added details such as discarded weapons, skulls and broken armour. There is one minor issue, they are NOT 25mm…

They are 26mm. But seriously, only the pickiest of players (aka “that ******** guy”) is going to notice, or even care. At the end of the day, having bases is always a good thing. I like them, it’s something a bit different, and compliments the style of the models

A model, made using parts solely from the kit, stands taller and wider than a typical GW model. Against this Thousand Son (barring headdress), it is noticeably bigger and more imposing: ideal for elite units, or if you have the coin, an elite army

All-in-all this is a top-grade set. Sure it is expensive for five models, but it is up to you to get the most from it. You are welcome to either make one seriously awesome looking squad, or mix the set in with others to create an army with very unique and varied soldiers of evil.
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Tuesday, 7 October 2014

The Overlord twitched and sparked from shattered limbs. “You’re gods cannot protect you, vermin. The Dynasty will destroy your flesh bodies and you will accept your cold fate.”“Do not speak to me of flesh bodies. You know so little, for such an ancient species”, the dreadnought intoned, traces of regret in its voice. Its clamp-like hands crushed the life-force from the Necron construct, twisting metal and shattering metallic bones. Dropping the dead machine, the Dreadnought ground a huge armoured foot into the remains, which phased out of reality with a green glow.

The Dreadnought has been stripped down and rebuilt in its entirety, with a greater emphasis on the chaos aspect.

I’ve added additional riveted trim around the legs and hip sections, as well as around the collar.

These spike racks helps add to the chaotic look, whilst not being too extravagant or overbearing. They've been fitted so that they mirror in size and position.

Both arms have been magnetised, to allow for a greater variety of weapons load-outs. For now I only have the two power fists, but I hope to get more options in the future.

The power fists have been modified extensively. The left has been given a crushed Necron. This was the pilot leftover from my Tomb stalker/Defiler conversion, with plenty of battle damage.

Arm number two was the result of a random idea formed from spare parts from Nagash. Using some of the spirit components, I gave the power fist, which previously had a flamer, a Soul Burner. This simple addition makes for a terrifying and cool piece of daemonic archeotech.

There is very little lift to do on this mode; mostly just finishing up the little details here and there. The paint scheme will be the same as before, just more refined, and with improved weathering.

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Everyone loves to jet around. Even if we cannot fly, jumping really really far will often do us just fine. Under examination today is a set of Maxmini Iron Pattern Jump Packs.

For the sum of £5.49, you get five identical jump packs, each of which comes in three pieces: The main body, and two exhaust vents. Working out at about £1.10 per jump pack, this isn’t too bad for value, and are parts that look a bit different to the norm.

They are suited for 28-33mm models, and are perfect for making Assault Marines, Sanguinary Guard, and Raptors. These packs are on the large side at the lower scale, as demonstrated above: they easily outsize standard GW backpacks, and even bulkier Raptor packs. Despite being so huge they don’t look out of place.

The quality is fantastic, and has improved since I last bought a set. Whilst before there were a few lines and wonky bits, this time around there are no such problems. Either through perfection of the process over time, or better resin, this set is virtually defect-less. Ever detail looks just a little bit more defined and clear-cut.

As some of you know I’m a big fan of this set. The details are fantastic for use in Horus Heresy-era armies, due to their antiquated styling and size. I have previously used them to create a set of Thousand Sons Raptors. I painted the round bolts as gemstones, to create a squad that is unique to this army.

Lately, I’ve tried adding these packs to a different range (but a similar one). This model is to become a Warp Talon Champion. It looks especially fantastic with the Maxmini packs (and that head I am so fond of). The body, from Evil Craft, is slightly larger than a GW one, so the pack looks more in-scale, and helps create an intimidating model. I plan to create a full squad of Warp Talons, combining Maxmini and Evil Craft parts, for a squad that will stand out no matter where I go.

In conclusion, it is easy to say I am a big fan of Maxmini’s jump packs. They appeal to my love of 30k-era gear, the detailing can be easily adapted through painting(painted as gems rather than bolts), are of a quality high enough that they maintain the image of a good model. I rank these amongst my top accessory picks.